Yantz’s eyes narrowed. “And why would I want to do that?”
I shrugged, and immediately regretted it as more pain lanced through my wrists. “I’m pretty good at putting up with pain, and since you guys are going to kill me anyway, torture isn’t much of an incentive to get me to talk. If you want answers, you’re going to have to give me some first.”
“Let’s just kill her,” Talcon growled, but Yantz leaned back in his chair, stroking his clean-shaven chin with his manicured fingers.
“I can’t imagine any information I’d give you will be much use to you beyond the grave.”
Maybe not, but this conversation was buying me time – time that I was using to heat the shackles around my wrists with tiny flames. I couldn’t use larger flames or they would notice, but if I did this a little bit at a time the silver would eventually melt and fall off.
“Let’s just say it’ll give me closure.” My gaze flickered back and forth between the two of them. “Why don’t you start by telling me why you killed Roanas Tillmore.” I couldn’t die without at least learning that.
Yantz laughed. “Of all the questions you might pick, you ask the most obvious one?” He regarded me with a mixture of amusement and disdain. “I had Tillmore killed for the same reason I’m having you killed now. He was asking too many questions, following the trail of the shifter deaths.”
Rage boiled in my gut at the way he dismissed my mentor’s life so casually. I channeled the fury into my magic, knowing it would do no good to direct it toward Yantz just now.
“Why were you going after those shifters?” I challenged.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Yantz wagged a finger. “It’s my turn to ask the next question. Who is the Academy student who helped you figure out the compound?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but just then the silver around my wrists softened, coming into contact with my skin. I clamped my jaw shut on a shriek as the white-hot metal seared my skin, and blinked my watering eyes.
Yantz’s eyes narrowed. “Why do I smell burning flesh?”
“It’s the silver –” Talcon began, but the cuffs had softened enough to break free, and I wasn’t going to waste time. A surge of adrenaline whipped through me, and I kicked my legs wide. The chair legs snapped from the seat, not quite clearing it, but enough for me to launch myself at Yantz, my claws extended.
“Stop her!” Yantz shrieked, throwing himself back in his chair. He skidded across the room as I landed on my stomach, but before I could scramble to my feet Talcon tackled me. I grunted as the weight of his heavy body crushed me into the carpet.
“I’ve got you now, bitch.” He panted heavily in my ear as I squirmed beneath him. Something hard pressed against my ass, and I gasped. “You’re mine.”
“You sick fuck!” I bucked beneath him, disgust rippling through me. The motion created just enough space for me to bring my knee up and wedge it beneath my torso. He grunted as he tried to squash me back into the ground, but the new position had thrown him off balance, and I was able to twist around beneath him so that my back was on the ground.
“Oh, so you like missionary?” He drew back his arm to punch me again, but I whipped my head to the side and his fist sank into the carpet instead. “Hold still, you bitch, so I can give it to you the way you like it!”
“I’m a feline, not a bitch,” I hissed, and then I reared up and sank my fangs into his neck. A roar echoed from Talcon’s throat, and his fist slammed into my head, over and over, trying to get me to let go. But I held on, my jaws clamped around his neck as firmly as a bulldog’s. He would weaken eventually; he had to, or I was done.
“Sunaya!” A door crashed open, and the sound of running footsteps followed. The Enforcer’s Guild must’ve hired someone new, because whoever it was sounded a hell of a lot like Iannis. Whoever it was though, I would never know, because Talcon’s fist smashed into my head again. The blow was weaker than the last, but it was one hit too many, and I fell into the darkness.
Chapter Twenty
The next time I opened my eyes, a pair of shimmering violet irises hovered over me. It took me a moment to remember who they belonged to, and when I did, I shot upright.
“Oww!” Iannis snapped as our skulls collided. He slapped a long-fingered hand over his forehead and glared down at me, the concern and relief I’d glimpsed eclipsed by annoyance. “Miss Baine, do you give no thought toward your actions before making them?”